The Springville/Mapleton Company of Daughters of Utah Pioneers held their monthly meeting on Thursday, Jan. 4. Company business was conducted and guest speaker, Chad Emmet, addressed the group. Emmet, like DUP members, claims kinship with early Utah pioneers and mentioned one that was a nine-year-old girl in the Willie Handcart Company. His mother is, and both grandmothers were, members of DUP.

Emmet, a professor of geography at Brigham Young University and Springville resident, spoke on Pioneering in Indonesia. He served an LDS mission in Indonesia several years ago and has visited the country various times since.

He also serves with the Indonesian language translation team for LDS General Conferences. He is in the process of writing a history of the LDS Church in the Indonesian islands.

Most of the population of Indonesia is on the island of Java. The area is hot and humid year round. Nutmeg cinnamon, tea and coffee were sought after commodities by the early traders who brought religion to these islands. Hinduism and Buddhism were the earlier religions there. Muslims brought Islam, Indonesian's predominant religion, in the 12th century.

Though it is the largest Islamic country in the world, it is one of the more religiously tolerant because of the influence of earlier religions. Christian religions were later brought by the Portuguese and Dutch traders.

In 1970 the first Latter-day Saint missionaries were sent to Indonesia. Visas were hard to come by and with some unrest in the country, foreign missionaries were pulled out in 1981.

The small group of Indonesian missionaries continued to struggle slowly forward over the next 20 years. Experienced leadership was lacking and growth was slow. However, in 2001, through a series of miraculous events, foreign missionaries were once again allowed into the country and the LDS church has become more established over the last five years.

LDS aid sent after the devastating tsunami and earthquakes have also had a great influence for good there and more visas are being issued. There are now approximately six thousand members of the LDS Church in 18 branches. Emmet said he hopes to see things continue to grow from there.

Next month's DUP company meeting will be held on February 1 at 2 p.m. and will feature guest speaker Susan McCloud, speaking on the Icelandic settlers.